Discharged from NUH....I almost read it as discharged from SAF.
So many people get injured in NS every year. Last time I was at a
M203 firing, my friend almost dropped his round. My palpitating
heart almost exploded too. Live weapons are no joke.

Why is it nowaday the younger genernation get injured or worst
die while in service?? In my days,late 80's to early 90's,
seldom serviceman get killed. When they do, is mostly getting stuck
by lightening while training outdoors.

During my time, there was very few, if not none,
on serviceman during training getting injured with firearms.
The Trainners damm strict. Should review on the training
SOP.

Why is it nowaday the younger genernation get injured or worst
die while in service?? In my days,late 80's to early 90's,
seldom serviceman get killed. When they do, is mostly getting stuck
by lightening while training outdoors.

During my time, there was very few, if not none,
on serviceman during training getting injured with firearms.
The Trainners damm strict. Should review on the training
SOP.

There might have been not too sure but in my last unit there has
not been any during my time served.In the navy,195 sqn, I was
one of those strict SOB who will pluck my juniors,left right
and centre, if I saw them not doing by the book or how I
had trained them.Either weapons or seamanship. That maybe why
had no case of injuries in my sqn during my time there

Though I was strict. I did take care of my guys when they had
problems. And what i had trained them on they did not forget even
after their active service. Was with them during most of my
reservist training and they did better than the active guys. They
would also comment when I did not pluck at anyone during the time
served. Takes one SOB to control all, so mistakes seldom occur, if
did not serious enough for injury or death.

In March 1997, the SAF halted training temporarily
after three full-time National Servicemen died in two fatal
incidents. Two NSFs were killed when their FH-2000 155mm
heavy artillery gun blew up in New Zealand because of a defective
Made in China fuze. One NSF was killed in Singapore after
an unexploded warhead from a misfired Armbrust light anti-tank
weapon picked up by infantrymen blew up. Five others were injured,
including a Lieutenant who lost his arm.

Deaths pre-1990s:

The SAF's deadliest accident took place on Jan 24, 1987, when
six lives were lost in a helicopter crash. Staff Sergeant Goh Kim
Loong, Corporal Ramiya Mohan, Lieutenants Ng Soon Hup, Siow Poh
Guan and Wee Tong Leong and Captain Lakbir Singh died after an air
force UH-1H Huey crashed 14 nautical miles south-east of Brunei
International Airport.

In April 1984, three SAF soldiers died over a span of 10 days.
Recruit Sim Keat Kee, 19, collapsed after a 2km run. Lieutenant Koh
Meah Wan, 23, was killed during an exercise at Sungei Gedong. And
Recruit Bak Yow Hock, 17, died at the School of Naval Training.

Ffirst reported training death in October 1968. In that
incident, Recruit Allen Tan Chong Huat, 19, was stung by hornets in
the Chua Chu Kang forest. He was rushed to Taman Jurong Camp but
there was no doctor on duty there ( military doctors then clocked
an 8am to 5pm shift). What's more, the garrison's ambulance was out
on another call. So Recruit Tan's officers rushed him to the main
road to flag down a passing vehicle. It took an hour to get him to
hospital.

A look at MINDEF/SAF incident reports for the 2001 to 2010
period reveals that the MINDEF website does not mention the deaths
of 2LT Daryl Loh (man overboard) in February 2001, CPL Ricky Liu
Junhong (2.4km run) in November 2007 and the near miss in which a
Commando was shot by a Thai farmer in 2010. (Mindef took 73 days to
report)

It also puzzles me why the loved ones of a full-time National
Serviceman injured in the shotgun incident had to speak up before
Singaporeans learned that the incident involved more than one
soldier.

In addition, Singaporeans had to read a Forum Page letter to
learn about the incident where Recruit Liam Kai Zheng fainted
at the SAF Ferry Terminal in Changi and died in hospital a day
later. The letter was written by REC Liam's father.

Apart from old soldiers with long memories, many Singaporeans
would probably not have heard of most of these incidents because
death was a taboo subject for Mindef. Indeed, one would be
hard-pressed to find open analyses of past training deaths,
especially in the early years of the SAF.

I admit there has been deaths in the SAF. For which is
regrettable, as i was active till 1995 luckly deaths in my unit, if
not mistaken nil.There were some death before my joining the Navy
and some while I was in Fleet.Mostly sucides by heartbroken cases
,accidents on the road and by act of God( Mother Nature: Lightening
sticks local and overseas).However the worst would be through
negligence or bending the SOP. Like the collison of LST.

As for the above case :

There was no mention on if the barrel was hot at the time of
explosion.

If the rounds issued were close to expiry or worst past
date.?

Or had the round been dropped or the percution cap been
damaged?

And what preventive measures will be exercised as not to happen
in the future?

Maybe wearing bulletproof armour or a shield plating. Can be
considered.

I think these are only the tip of an iceberg, still got many
more... which is not reported!

I remember I read thru a incident report, a trainee was
accidently shot by a GPMG. I saw the pic, the round go thru his
thigh then out of his groin!

The accident took place in the 1970s during the live firing
exercise. The missed fire was happen at the end of the exercise
where everyone was clearing their weapon. one of the personnel saw
the round which was stuck in the barrel of the GPMG then he use the
mallet to knock to clear the stuck round . It so happen
that the round just when off after it was being mallet and the poor
fella was shot. The GPMG was mounted on the turret of the SM-1
tank and the decease was just standing directly in front of the
GPMG. The decease die on the way to the hospital cos the ambulance
driver didn't know the way to NUH.

I admit there has been deaths in the SAF. For which is
regrettable, as i was active till 1995 luckly deaths in my unit, if
not mistaken nil.There were some death before my joining the Navy
and some while I was in Fleet.Mostly sucides by heartbroken cases
,accidents on the road and by act of God( Mother Nature: Lightening
sticks local and overseas).However the worst would be through
negligence or bending the SOP. Like the collison of LST.

As for the above case :

There was no mention on if the barrel was hot at the time of
explosion.

If the rounds issued were close to expiry or worst past
date.?

Or had the round been dropped or the percution cap been
damaged?

And what preventive measures will be exercised as not to happen
in the future?

Maybe wearing bulletproof armour or a shield plating. Can be
considered.

Dunno about air force, but you are dead wrong about navy. Every
step on board taken without care would ensure you get hurt
somehow.

Well.

You have to serve on board to understand that better.

The navy has only 4000 odd folks.....of course you would hear
less things. Moreover not all injuries are reported.

And most people there are regulars.....they are not regulars by
name only obviously. So they're better at taking care of
themselves, and can teach the minority NSFs better working
alongside them. That still doesn't mean no accidents and certainly
doesn't mean the environment is safe. Quite the contrary in
fact.

think these are only the tip of an iceberg, still got many
more... which is not reported!

I remember I read thru a incident report, a trainee was
accidently shot by a GPMG. I saw the pic, the round go thru his
thigh then out of his groin!

The accident took place in the 1970s during the live firing
exercise. The missed fire was happen at the end of the exercise
where everyone was clearing their weapon. one of the personnel saw
the round which was stuck in the barrel of the GPMG then he use the
mallet to knock to clear the stuck round . It so happen
that the round just when off after it was being mallet and the poor
fella was shot. The GPMG was mounted on the turret of the SM-1
tank and the decease was just standing directly in front of the
GPMG. The decease die on the way to the hospital cos the ambulance
driver didn't know the way to NUH.

Jia lat.

I'm not sure if anyone went to my primary school in the 90s.
There was an old Chinese teacher who was very patriotic and very
fierce.

She often repeated a story of how her son saw a friend run over
by a tank! Don't know if it was AMX (that time no SM1) or
Centurion.

She kept saying how the body was ground to a pulp and her son
could never forget. She told the story to half the school.

I was a regular in the Navy and have NS men in my care. I did
train them as mention above. That is why trainned them hard. No
injuries to my man was ever happened. they know what they can and
what they are trainned to do. If anyone were to ask them to do any
thing out of their ability even if they were of high rank had told
them refer them to me. For your infor, I am just a local
3sgt with experiance (Condemmed sgt ,failed IPPT
for any promotions) but what I say sometimes counts. If, no
choose ,had to be done then I will do the task at hand , as I
can stop or change the requirements for better and safer completion
and be able to answer for my actions, without any injuries to
any of my men.

If human error is at fault, so too is higher leadership in LCP
Wee's C4I battalion for gross failure to remind and reinforce
safety messages.

I can see where the official MINDEF/SAF investigation will
lead to. Going by established procedure, the Wee family is likely
to come under close scrutiny when they go to Jurong Camp to collect
his belongings. Reports are likely to be submitted by the
Special Investigation Branch, with tell tale signs of anger or
aggression by the Wees jotted down in painstaking
detail.

During my time, one of my army mates recieved 21 extras for
misfiring the 40mm agl, fortunately it was aimed at the range butt,
unfortunately there were big shots near the range butt area, even
more unfortunate there were guests from brunei at that time, also
at the butt area. He was fortunate to get away with 21 extras only
because, they attributed the fault to the firing feed system of the
agl, even to this day I go in camp for revision, they still talk
about this problem of the agl, because to be frank, I think it was
a problem that was never ever rectified. I
like my HMGs.